BYOD stands for Bring Your Own Device, a concept in which employees use a personal laptop or smartphone for their work. In information security you must implement measures to manage organisational data on that private device in a strictly segregated and sufficiently secured manner.

What is Information Security? Definitions, Measures, and Control

Q: What is information security?

Information security is a coherent set of security measures that organises the storage, processing, and sharing of data within your IT systems and networks so that the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of your information is assured.

Information security (IS) consists of the strategies, policies, and technical controls used to protect an organisation's data from unauthorised access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, or destruction. It is the foundational discipline required to maintain business continuity and legal compliance.

Most IT professionals view information security purely through the lens of firewalls and anti-virus software. This is a mistake. True information security encompasses physical assets, human behaviour, and digital data. Failure to secure any of these vectors results in data breaches, reputational damage, and severe regulatory penalties.

The Role and Importance of Information Security

Data integrity is the currency of modern business. Production lines, financial forecasts, and customer trust all rely on the accuracy and availability of information. If that data is stolen or subtly altered without detection, operations grind to a halt.

Protecting this data is critical. This applies to sensitive intellectual property and financial records, but equally to the Personal Identifiable Information (PII) of staff and customers. Under current UK legislation, you are the custodian of this data. If you fail to protect it, you are liable. Even public-facing information, such as annual reports or press releases, requires protection to prevent malicious alteration that could damage your brand.

Physical vs. Cyber Security

Information security is not synonymous with cyber security. While cyber security focuses exclusively on protecting digital networks and systems, information security covers data in all forms. This includes:

Digital Data: Files on servers, cloud databases, and endpoints.
Physical Data: Paper files in cabinets, archived contracts, and printed employee records.
Hardware: Access to server rooms and archive facilities.

A robust security policy addresses physical access as strictly as digital access. A locked server room is as vital as a complex password policy.

Examples of Information Security Measures

Information security requires you to identify risks and implement controls to mitigate them. You cannot eliminate risk entirely; you manage it to an acceptable level through specific measures.

Access Management

Access management is the single most critical control in your arsenal. You must define exactly who has access to which applications and data. This requires a granular approach. It is not enough to grant 'network access'; you must control permissions at the folder and field level.

Data Encryption

Encryption renders data unreadable to unauthorised users. If a laptop is lost or a database is exfiltrated, encryption ensures the data remains useless to the attacker. This is a standard requirement for GDPR compliance.

Data Classification

Not all data requires the same level of protection. A canteen menu does not need the same security wrapper as a payroll spreadsheet. You should implement a classification schema (e.g., Public, Internal, Confidential, Restricted) to apply appropriate security layers. This prevents you from wasting resources securing non-critical data while under-protecting your 'crown jewels'.

Device Management

Data lives on endpoints. Laptops, smartphones, and tablets are portable and easily lost. You must employ Mobile Device Management (MDM) to enforce encryption, push security updates, and remotely wipe devices if they are stolen. This control extends to Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies, which often represent a significant security gap.

Retention and Backup

Storing data indefinitely is a liability. The more data you hold, the greater your exposure during a breach. You must implement clear retention policies to delete data when it is no longer legally required. Conversely, robust backup management is essential to recover from ransomware attacks or corruption.

Employee Awareness

The human element is your weakest link. Phishing attacks and social engineering bypass technical firewalls by targeting people. Regular, mandatory security awareness training is the only way to reduce the risk of accidental data leaks.

Information Security Management Systems (ISMS)

An ad-hoc approach to security guarantees failure. You cannot rely on isolated measures; you need a coherent framework. An Information Security Management System (ISMS) provides a structured approach to managing sensitive company information.

The Risk-Based Approach

You do not implement controls at random. You work top-down based on a risk assessment:

Identify Assets: What data do you have?
Assess Risks: What are the threats (theft, fire, corruption)?
Evaluate Impact: What happens if the risk materialises?
Prioritise: Fix the highest risks first.

This is not a one-time project. It is a continuous cycle. You must regularly review your ISMS against new threats, incident reports, and organisational changes.

Information Security Guidelines and Standards

UK organisations have access to established frameworks to guide their IS strategy. These are not just checklists; they are blueprints for a defensible security posture.

ISO 27001: The international gold standard for ISMS. It provides the requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining, and continually improving an information security management system.
Cyber Essentials / Cyber Essentials Plus: A UK government-backed scheme that helps you protect your organisation against a whole range of common cyber attacks. It is often a prerequisite for government contracts.
NHS Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPT): Essential for organisations working with the NHS or in the UK healthcare sector, replacing older standards like NEN 7510 found in other jurisdictions.

These standards provide practical guidance. They dictate password complexity, backup frequency, and audit requirements. Implementing them proves to auditors and clients that you take security seriously.

Privacy and security are distinct but inseparable. In the UK, you must comply with the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR.

The Compliance Trap:

Auditors look for evidence of control. Under UK GDPR, you must demonstrate that you process personal data securely. This includes the data of your own employees. A common failure point is internal access rights.

The Principle of Least Privilege:

You must ensure that employees only have access to the data necessary for their job function. A payroll administrator needs access to salary data; a warehouse manager does not. If your permissions are too broad, you are violating the principle of least privilege. This is a compliance failure even if no external breach occurs.

The Role of IAM in Information Security

Identity and Access Management (IAM) is the operational engine of information security. It converts your high-level policies into technical reality.

The Authentication vs. Authorisation Problem

Security starts with authentication (verifying who the user is) and moves to authorisation (determining what they can do).

Authentication: Controlled via strong passwords, Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), and biometrics.
Authorisation: Controlled via Role-Based Access Control (RBAC).

The Management Nightmare

In a manual environment, maintaining these controls is impossible. IT managers are overwhelmed by the "Joiner, Mover, Leaver" (JML) process. When a user changes roles, their old permissions often remain active while new ones are added. This leads to "permission bloat" and toxic combinations of access rights.

The Solution: Automated Governance

You must remove the human error from the loop. Modern IAM solutions like HelloID automate the entire lifecycle.

HR as the Source of Truth: When HR updates a record, HelloID detects the change.
Automated Provisioning: Accounts are created, and permissions are granted based on the user's role and department.
Service Automation: Users request access via a portal; approvals are routed to managers, not IT.
Audit Logs: Every change is logged for compliance.

Manual Process vs. Automated Governance

Feature	Manual Process (The Risk)	Automated Governance (HelloID)
Provisioning Speed	Days or Weeks (Service Desk bottleneck)	Instant (Day 1 Access)
Accuracy	High Error Rate (Copy/Paste mistakes)	100% Consistent (Based on Business Rules)
Revocation	Often missed; "Orphan accounts" remain active	Immediate disablement upon contract end
Audit Trail	Fragmented emails and tickets	Centralised, immutable logs
Compliance	Fails ISO/GDPR audits regularly	Audit-ready by default